On Aug. 8 Moscow denied the report and had Vladimir Kuzheyev, a reserve general, go on TV to explain that he was "alive and well."

But Free Syrian Army claims that they actually killed Maj. Gen. Vladimir Kojève when they raided his car in Damascus, and gave Al-Arabiya a number of documents taken from his personal briefcase to prove it.

The channel, a leading news channel in the Arab world, said it has verified hundreds of documents given to them by the opposition and are in the process of disclosing those with substantial news value and political relevance.

In this case the documents include Kojève's Syrian ID card, which gave him full access to Syrian security institutions; a picture of Kojève's tinted Mazda Zoom, along with a special permission for him to tint the windows for "safety reasons"; and a request to go on vacation to Moscow that said it was in “accordance with the terms of the contract special to Russian military advisors in Syria.”

The request was sent to then-Army Chief of Staff Fahad Jassim al-Frei, who is now serving as Assad’s defense minister.